25 October 1918: the final diary entry

In the rest camp at (Richon Le Gion, Khirbet Deiran and Wadi Hanein). The Anzac Division classified B Class and unfit to take part in further present battles. The very thought of it is heartbreaking. 
 
The always happy, energetic, determined and all enduring old Division is at last down and out. After four years of misery is now a mere shell, run down haggard, war worn, sick and lacking energy. Seven months of summer in the Jordan Valley the inferno and hub of the great fever belt was the cause of the general break down. 
 
General Allenby in his speech told us that we had put up with more hardships than any other Division in the whole war. He referred to us as freaks of nature and was very, very, sorry to see we were having such a bad time, but someone had to be sacrificed in order that the war could be successfully carried on to a victorious end - and we were the only Division who were best able, by our wonderful powers of endurance and determination to see it through until such time as the situation changed.
 
Well we saw it thru alright, but at what a price. Half the boys in the Division will be physical wrecks for life.
 
..Finis..

(Postscript: 20.12.18 - Arrived in Melbourne)

​J.A.Graham

J.A.Graham. Discharged from Service: 24 February 1919.